Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers have yet to figure out the Pirates in 2022. The Pirates are 20-27 on the year with a -83 run differential, but are 3-1 against the Dodgers (despite being outscored by three in the four games). The Pirates jumped on Walker Buehler early last night and tagged him for four runs. The Dodgers clawed their way back into it and took a late lead, but Craig Kimbrel blew his first save of the season to give the Pirates another one-run win. They’re 7-6 in one-run games while the Dodgers are 4-5. Tonight, the Dodgers look to even the series and end May with a win.
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| 7:10 PM | Los Angeles | ||
| 3B | Hayes | RF | Betts |
| CF | Reynolds (S) | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| 1B | Chavis | SS | T. Turner |
| 2B | Castillo | C | Smith |
| SS | Castro (S) | DH | Rios (L) |
| DH | Chang | 3B | Turner |
| RF | Suwinski (L) | CF | Taylor |
| C | Heineman (S) | 2B | Lux (L) |
| LF | Marcano (L) | LF | Pillar |
| P | Keller (R) | P | Urias (L) |
Julio Urias gets the rare start on his bobblehead night at the Ravine. Urias is coming off back-to-back solid starts after his worst start of the season. He followed up a five-run outing at home against the Phillies by shutting the Phillies out in Philadelphia over five innings. Last time out, Urias allowed one run and four hits over six innings in Washington. His strikeout numbers are down this season, with only 34 strikeouts in 47 innings. Urias has only struck out five or more batters in three of his nine starts. He’s also yet to throw more than 90 pitches in a game this season, maxing out at 87 his last time out. Urias started one of the games in Pittsburgh and turned in a weird start. He only allowed two runs over six innings but allowed 11 hits four of which were for extra bases.
The Pirates didn’t announce a starter until a few hours before gametime, as Mitch Keller will make his eighth start and 10th appearance overall. Keller was booted from the rotation after back-to-back starts where he allowed five runs against the Reds. Keller made seven starts and allowed 24 runs in 32 1/3 innings while opponents OPS’d .800 against him. In two relief appearances totaling six innings, Keller allowed eight hits and two runs. Keller had maxed out at 86 pitches, but has thrown 55 and 57 in his two appearances since May 13.
Keller throws a four-seamer 52.1 percent of the time and is averaging a career-high 96.1 MPH on it, about 2.5 MPH higher than it was for the last couple seasons. He throws a slider 21.7 percent of the time, changeup 11.8 percent and curveball 10.8 percent of the time. This season, Baseball Savant started tracking a sinker, which he’s thrown three percent of the time.
Cody Bellinger remains out of the lineup, with Chris Taylor manning center and Kevin Pillar getting the start in left.
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Bellinger is probably unavailable tonight, but could start in the finale tomorrow.
The Dodgers could be getting some rotation reinforcements coming up.
Clayton Kershaw will throw a bullpen tomorrow and likely make a rehab start Saturday. Andrew Heaney could also begin a rehab assignment in OKC this weekend. Tyler Anderson or Tony Gonsolin could be candidates to be sent down/to the bullpen when they return, but they’ve also been the Dodgers’ best starters in May. Not a bad problem to have.
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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT and will be shown on Sportsnet LA.
